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MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

Milton (Kingsley), Sandy (Harris) and Joyce (Jane Curtin) are regular faces at the city council meetings of their small town of Boonton, Pennsylvania; they are all older adults and used to being ignored by those in power. Milton keeps bringing up his favorite topics: the confusing town slogan and the need for a new crosswalk. It is implied that he is dismissed as a person with memory problems, if not dementia. Since nothing is ever done about his requests, he keeps repeating himself month after month.

Until Milton has something new to bring to their attention: A UFO has crashed in his backyard and taken out his azaleas. The council members show no regard for his news, but Sandy pays him a visit and meets the alien (who she decides to call Jules) peacefully living with Milton. Joyce also comes over to Milton’s house and is invited into their plan to keep Jules’ presence a secret while they try to figure out how to help him get back home.

Before the movie arrived at the halfway point, it became clear that this was a mashup of E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Cocoon. There is a nice chemistry between all four of the main characters (including Jules – played by Jade Quon – who does not speak) and their growing friendship for one another is developed convincingly. But if there’s one thing that I know about small towns (and I have lived in a few) it is that everyone wants to know everyone’s business as soon as possible. That does not seem to be the case here, since not only city council but also the police department and even Milton’s daughter Denise (Zoë Winters) fail to check out Milton’s backyard. By the time National Security gets interested, our friends are ahead of the game.

Jules is such a sweet little comedy-drama, I wanted to show it more love, but like many independent films with a limited budget, its ambitions exceed its grasp. There’s no attempt to provide any scientific explanations for anything – including why the spaceship landed on Earth. Some plot problems are solved in ways that are whimsical and upsetting at the same time.

I’m guessing that the target audience for Jules are baby boomers who can not only relate to the main characters in the film but also recall the movies that have inspired it. (Director Marc Turteltaub is also in his seventies.) Count me in that number, but I would rather revisit the space stories of my younger days. Beam me up, Scotty!

Halo and Pitchfork Rating:

Three halos: Some good performances bring distinction to this derivative science fiction fantasy film; compassion, friendship, and empathy are core virtues.
Three pitchforks: Mild onscreen violence; brutal offscreen violence; a record number of F-bombs for a PG-13 film.

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